Chrome Making “Simple Gesture Nav” Default For Overscroll History

I don’t know about you but Chrome’s trackpad gestures are a major part of my workflow every single day.

One of my most used gestures is without a doubt is the two-finger swipe to navigate forward and back on a given page. Apart from the three-finger swipe to switch between tabs, I use this one more than any other gesture on my device.

One complaint I have with this handy little feature is its the fact that the UI is a little clunky as it attempts to swipe the current page away and render the new page all at the same time. Often this results in the new page being displayed but not actually loaded. It’s just sort of stuck and giving the trackpad a little nudge is necessary to complete the task.

Thankfully, there’s a better UI available to users today and the new look will soon be the default for the horizontal overscroll gesture.

Check out the little .gif below to see what the “simplified” UI looks like.

+François Beaufort refers to the new look as “Material Design indicators.” With the second iteration of Material Design on the horizon, this new look is likely a move to streamline Chrome’s overall UI as Google melds more of its platforms into one congruent look.

According to the commit in the Chromium repository, the new Simplified UI will become the default experience in an upcoming version of Chrome. If you’d like to go ahead and make the switch, head to chrome://flags and search for “overscroll history.” Set the flag to “simple” and restart your browser.

You’re all set to enjoy the new UI. Based on the flag and the commit, this feature is/will be available for Chrome OS, Windows and Linux. Sorry, MacOS.

About Gabriel Brangers

Lover of all things coffee. Foodie for life. Passionate drummer, hobby guitar player, Web designer and proud Army Veteran. I have come to drink coffee and tell the world of all things Chrome. "Whatever you do, Carpe the heck out of that Diem" - Roman poet, Horace. Slightly paraphrased.